Rocacorba Daily

Tuesday August 19, 2014

by Shane Stokes and Matt de Neef - August 19, 2014

In this morning’s edition of the Rocacorba Daily news digest: Kiel Reijnen wins stage 1 of the USA Pro Challenge; Rogers to remain with Tinkoff Saxo until end of 2016; No Cavendish for Vuelta as Omega Pharma-Quickstep names team; Pinot commits to two more years with FDJ.fr; Two year ban confirmed for Tiernan Locke as rider decides not to appeal; Voigt confirms career will end Sunday; Danielson commits to supporting team-mates in Garmin-Sharp bid to take Tour of Alberta; Froome heads strong Sky selection for Vuelta a España; The ongoing saga of the Paul Kimmage defence fund - Hue to try to get arrest warrant for Brown; Cyclists exposed to five times less air pollution than those in cars; Closed roads for Tour de France stage improved air quality in Huddersfield, UK; A journey around Copenhagen's latest bicycle innovations; Melburn Roobaix - A Sunday in Hell.

Kiel Reijnen wins stage 1 of the USA Pro Challenge

Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare) has won the opening stage of the 2014 USA Pro Challenge in Colorado, sprinting to victory at the end of the 98km stage from a small lead group.

An eight-rider breakaway formed within the first 15km: Danny Summerhill (UHC), Ben Jacques-Maynes and Matt Cooke (Jamis), Jonathan Freter and Luis Lemus (Jelly Belly), Gregory Daniel (Bissell), Lachlan Norris (Drapac) and Josh Berry (SmartStop). The leaders weren’t able to get more than 1:45 ahead of the peloton on the short stage, with Cannondale working on the front of the bunch for Elia Viviani.

Berry was dropped from the breakaway before Norris took maximum points on each of the first two KOM sprints. The gap continued to come down and was down to roughly 30 seconds with 25km to go.

With 23km to go Ben Jaques-Maynes attacked from the break, signalling the beginning of the end for the remainder of his companions. Jens Voigt (Trek), in his final race as a professional, bridged across to Jaques-Maynes before the pair was caught coming into the final 5km.

Javier Megias (Novo Nordisk) attacked with 4km left to race, being joined by Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare) and Alex Howes (Garmin-Sharp) a short time later. Despite the best efforts of the peloton, the small lead group was able to stay away, with Reijnen winning the stage ahead of Howes.

The race continues tomorrow with a 169km stage from Aspen to Mt. Crested Butte.

Stage 1: Aspen > Aspen - Stage Result

Monday 18th August 2014

Rogers to remain with Tinkoff Saxo until end of 2016

by Shane Stokes

Having had what was arguably the best season of his career, Michael Rogers has been given a new two year deal by his Tinkoff Saxo team and will continue in the colours of the squad until at least the end of 2016.

Rogers took two stages in the Giro d’Italia and also landed his first-ever win in the Tour de France. Performances such as those plus his work for Alberto Contador and others have earned him another contract.

“I’m very excited about extending,” the 34 year old Australian said in a team announcement. “For the last two seasons and especially in 2014, I’ve felt that we’ve been on the verge of something very special as a team – I most definitely saw that during the Tour.

“I’ve always been a strong advocate of teamwork, and I think that’s why I fit well into this team. We’re able to perform with a big mix of riders and I enjoy being able to assist some of the younger guys with their development.”

Rogers will continue to back Contador and will take his own opportunities when they arise. As he has shown this year, he is able to take stages in the biggest races and, according to team manager Bjarne Riis, he has moved to a new level.

“We’re all very pleased that Michael will stay with the team and it’s quite obvious why. It has been an amazing comeback and he has played an important role in raising the overall level of the team,” said the Dane. “In fact, I don’t think we’ve ever seen him stronger than he is now. He’ll definitely be important for us in the seasons to come.”

No Cavendish for Vuelta as Omega Pharma-Quickstep names team

by Shane Stokes

Although Mark Cavendish recently returned to racing after his shoulder injury sustained at the Tour de France, the Briton’s Omega Pharma-QuickStep team has decided that he will have an alternative race programme to the Vuelta a España.

The Belgian squad announced the lineup for the latter race on Monday, with that squad being oriented around Giro d’Italia runner-up Rigoberto Uran. He will be joined by former world champion Tom Boonen, who missed the Tour and will use the Spanish race as part of his preparation for Ponferrada 2014, multiple world TT champion Tony Martin, Wout Poels, Gianluca Brambilla, Pieter Serry, Martin Velits, Nikolas Maes and first-time Grand Tour rider Carlos Verona.

It had been thought by some that Cavendish might ride the race but instead the team has laid out an alternative schedule for him. He will do the Tour du Poitou Charentes, running from August 26 to 29, then the Tour of Britain. The latter race starts September 7 and lasts until September 14.

Pinot commits to two more years with FDJ.fr

by Shane Stokes

Tour de France podium finisher Thibaut Pinot has put an end to speculation surrounding his destination for next season, with the Frenchman reportedly inking an extension to his current contract with FDJ.fr.

French newspaper l’Equipe has said that the team has confirmed the rider’s new deal, meaning he will compete with the squad until at least 2016.

Pinot is 24 years of age and expected to keep improving for several more years. While it is too soon to say he is a future winner of the Tour, he is certainly one of the brightest French talents and FDJ.fr’s ability to hold onto him could pay off greatly in the years ahead.

Two year ban confirmed for Tiernan Locke as rider decides not to appeal

by Shane Stokes

Former Endura Racing and Team Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke has had his two year suspension for doping confirmed by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), with the rider electing not to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Tiernan-Locke made a strong improvement in results in 2012, winning the Tour du Haut Var, the Tour of the Mediterranean and the Tour of Britain.

He had been subjected to three urine tests during the Tour of Britain but, according to UKAD, none of these were analysed for traces of EPO. Over the next five months four further samples were taken to build up his longitudinal profile for the biological passport. These set a baseline and made it clear that his September 22 reading was abnormal.

As part of his defence, Tiernan-Locke claimed that a long drinking binge on September 20 was responsible for the blood fluctuations. He claimed that he and his girlfriend went out to celebrate the signing of a two year contract with Team Sky and that over the course of several hours, he consumed vast quantities of alcohol.

An expert commissioned by Tiernan-Locke to help him with his defence said that the rider consumed an estimated 33 units of alcohol, and that this both dehydrated the rider and also caused the level of his reticulocytes, or immature red blood cells, to plummet.

However in a detailed judgement, UKAD explained why it didn’t believe the explanation.

Voigt confirms career will end Sunday

by Shane Stokes

Fan favourite Jens Voigt has reiterated his intention to bring his career to a close, saying that the USA Pro Challenge will be his final race and, therefore, he will hang up his wheels after Sunday’s final stage to Denver.

“Everything has to come to an end,” the 42 year old said. “I am a big fan of the idea that you are the master of your destiny. I like to decide when I want to go. I could have squeezed out one more year and then have the teams go, ‘well, Jens, we really like you but … we don’t need you anymore’.

“I don’t need that. I want to stop in good condition and put on a show one more time, and then finish feeling good and strong, knowing that I squeezed every little bit of energy out of me.”

The East German has been racing since he was ten years of age. He turned pro in 1997 at 25 years of age; prior to that he visited the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Riding the USA Pro Challenge as his final competitive event completes a circle, and he said it was logical to bring things to an end there.

Danielson commits to supporting team-mates in Garmin-Sharp bid to take Tour of Alberta

by Shane Stokes

Twelve months after the team won the Tour of Alberta with Rohan Dennis, Tom Danielson has confirmed that Garmin Sharp is gunning for overall victory again in the Canadian race and that he will support his team-mates in trying to take the honours.

Danielson was the recent winner of the Tour of Utah and was backed by the other riders on the team then. He’s willing to turn things around and sacrifice himself in the event.

“Our Garmin-Sharp team is loaded with talent and we’re looking forward to defending our title from last year,” said Danielson. “The Tour of Alberta fits a couple of our guys real nice like Ramunas and Slagter. I look forward to supporting those guys.

“Both are super talented. I’ve heard great things about Alberta, the race, and the fans up there, so, I’m pretty pumped.”

Dennis will not be riding the event. He completed a rare mid-season transfer to the BMC Racing Team and is on its roster for the Vuelta a España, which begins on Saturday.

Froome heads strong Sky selection for Vuelta a España

by Shane Stokes

Unable to fight for a second overall win in the Tour de France due to the broken wrist and hand he suffered at this year’s race, Chris Froome will instead lead a strong Sky lineup in the Vuelta a España, which begins Saturday in Jerez de la Frontera.

The British rider has trained hard in advance of the race and is determined to take the second Grand Tour victory of his career. He will be up against an elite field which includes other three week winners such as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo), Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde (both Movistar), Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) and defending champion Chris Horner (Lampre Merida), but feels up to the task.

“This is exactly the sort of challenge I need after the disappointment of withdrawing from the Tour de France,” he said. “You can’t dwell on disappointment, you have to move on quickly to next thing and the Vuelta has become the perfect race for me to focus on.

“I’ve always really enjoyed racing at the Vuelta. It’s a tough race but a great opportunity for the whole team. I know that the level of competition will be incredibly high this year, but we’ve got a strong line-up so we hope to be as competitive as possible.”

Froome will be joined by fellow Britons Peter Kennaugh and Luke Rowe, as well as Dario Cataldo, Philip Deignan, Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Mikel Nieve and Kanstantsin Siutsou. The 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins will not take part, and is expected instead to defend his title in the Tour of Britain.

The ongoing saga of the Paul Kimmage defence fund: Hue to try to get arrest warrant for Brown

by Shane Stokes

Fifteen months after the journalist Paul Kimmage received notification that the fund set up to help him fight former UCI presidents Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid in court had gone missing, the clock continues to tick for Aaron Brown, the individual who was long known by his Twitter persona @UCI_Overlord.

In May 2013 it emerged that Brown had taken control of the fund and was refusing to hand it over to either Kimmage or his former Ciclismas business partner, Lesli Cohen. Repeated requests for an accounting to prove the fund still existed were ignored and a class action suit was initiated by Bill Hue last September.

In the same month the court ordered the fund frozen and commanded Brown and his attorney to prove an accounting and statement of whereabouts of the fund by February 25th. This was not complied with; in addition to that, Brown disobeyed court orders and issued refunds to at least two donors.

On July 9th he was found in contempt of court. In that initial ruling, the judge handling the case, David Ricciardone, said that the court had concluded, “that there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant violated a clear and unequivocal order to provide information regarding the whereabouts of the funds and not to make disbursements.”

Cyclists exposed to five times less air pollution than those in cars

A collaboration between Kings College London, the Camden Council and the Healthy Air Campaign appears to show that those who travel by car are exposed to pollution levels five times those who cycle, and 3.5 times those who walk.

Air pollution detectors were fitted to one person driving a car, one on a bus, one on foot and one on a bike, all in London.

Someone travelling in their car will be subjected to a greater volume of pollution because exhaust from other vehicles enter the car and isn’t able to disperse. Cyclists, on the other hand, don’t have the fumes trapped in close proximity to them.

Dr Ben Barratt, lecturer in air quality science at Kings College London, said: “By walking and cycling you’ll not only create less air pollution yourself but you can reduce your exposure to air pollution. You can take a step further by taking quieter routes away from this traffic.”

“But avoiding air pollution is not a sustainable option. This is a very important point. We need to take more action by government to reduce the amount of air pollution in cities.”

Closed roads for Tour de France stage improved air quality in Huddersfield, UK

And speaking of air quality, it wasn’t just the huge crowds to the area that benefited Huddersfield when the Tour de France rolled through town. With many local roads closed to car traffic on July 6, routine air monitoring in nearby Kirkless showed a significant decrease in the amount of air pollution.

Clr Steve Hall, Kirklees Cabinet member for Environmental Health, said: “The unusual situation created by the visit of the Tour de France highlights how our car use affects pollution levels and shows the benefits of cycling and walking.

“I hope that one of the legacies of the Tour de France is to increase the number of journeys, particularly those done by commuters, completed by cycling and walking which will benefit people by increasing fitness levels through exercise but also improving the quality of the air we breathe.”

A journey around Copenhagen’s latest bicycle innovations

This video shows just some of the many reasons why Copenhagen is revered as one of the most (if not the most) cycling friendly cities in the world.

Melburn Roobaix – A Sunday in Hell

Here’s a video shot by the CycleAtlas guys of the most recent edition of Melburn-Roobaix. As you can see, the weather was less than ideal for riding on cobblestone back-alleys, but judging by the happy faces it was still a great day out.

The Rocacorba Recap

And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips:

ops that comment above was a typo. Since i’m the secret pro, i know damn well why it was pulled and i’m not sayin nufin.

Sean AKA fattie master pro

Still not back. I’d say more, but dave wont remove his foot from my mouth.

Michele

Shane Stoke’s piece on JTL is a great, concise summation of the entire scenario; read it earlier this morning. Thanks CT!

I’m putting the rather flimsy excuse aside for a moment:

Seriously, if a guy is willing to drink that much alcohol, regardless of fact he is about to represent his country and the WC, regardless of the fact he did not see the need to rehydrate in the days following the binge, then I think he has some bigger issues than using a bit of EPO to cheat.

‘The 100 best excuses for failing a doping test’. Let’s get a short list going:

– Tyler Hamilton

– JTL

– Floyd Landis

– Gilberto Simeoni

– Alexi Grewal

– Raimondas Rumšas

– Adrie van der Poel

– Jesús Rosendo

– Frank Vandenbroucke

– Björn Leukemans

– Gianni Bugno

– Dario Frigo

– Michael Rasmussen
– Ivan Basso
– Riccardo Ricco / Stuart O’Grady

jules

warnie..

Michele

Great one.

I wonder if Warnie was playing now and he got pinged whether he would get such a lenient sentence, or if the mainstream media would buy the ‘I was only using the diuretic to look slimmer’ line?

Seriously, Warne dislocates his bowling shoulder in mid-Jan and needs a clean-out to shoulder caused from injury. He was bowling just 2 weeks later and fully fit for World Cup 5 weeks after injury.

A remarkable recovery, considering how much work the shoulder does in a leg spinner’s action.

Dave

One year for a masking agent only is still pretty normal – Frank Schleck got that just two years ago.

Michele

True re: 12 months, but it could have been longer.

With what is happening with ASADA and Essendon etc., I imagine if Warnie failed a test tomorrow, he would get a longer suspension. CAS [or whoever ruling body was] accepted his reason for taking the drug, and decided to give him 12 months only.

I think media would not be so kind today.

Re: Schleck’s suspension. He’s been investigated before. I think fact that Luxembourg Cycling governing body believed Frank’s story that he paid Dr Fuentes 8K Euro for some training plans – and nothing else – would suggest that perhaps they like to sweep stuff under the carpet as well.

Dave

You would have thought that someone who had drawn so much attention to himself over the years would have been punished harder when they did finally get caught out.

That he still only got the regulation one year and no other governing body (the French had jurisdiction) pressed a case for a full suspension would suggest that a short holiday is still the accepted sanction for getting caught with a masking agent in even these cleaner and tougher days in cycling.

No wonder it’s not taken so seriously in skill-based sports like cricket.

jules

he’s a doper, plain and simple. he gets a free ride as he’s a cricketer and not a cyclist.

Dave

Nonsense.

He got the same treatment back in 2003 that cyclists are getting these days despite cycling claiming (rather mendaciously, it would seem) to have gotten tougher on doping.

jules

eh? he got lampooned in the media as a bit of a lad for blaming his mum, now he’s a commentator on Ch.9 isn’t he?

meanwhile O’Grady has gone to ground, his reputation in tatters.

Dave

Commentating on TV – that’s getting away with less than White, Vino, Riis and Vaughters (running top-level teams and influencing the cyclists of the future) and definitely less than Eddy Merckx still being treated like a god!

O’Grady hasn’t done his time yet. All will eventually be forgiven once he tells the whole story, or if he looks like he might turn out to be a half-decent coach.

Michele

And of course, O’Grady can’t be allowed to / shouldn’t be allowed to coach until he tells all.

Dave

I’d go for “shouldn’t” there.

Winning is the ultimate way to recover your reputation in Australia – and it applies to cycling more so than most sports. Just look at Michael Rogers, only six months from “yeah, he was going to get caught at some point” to Keeno just about having an orgasm as he won those Giro stages.

Michele

Just about ??

Dave

True, Keeno seems just a little too masculine to fake that kind of pleasure.

It could have been worse – think of the BBC’s F1 commentators any time that Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button is leading a race, or Victoria Pendleton’s embarrassingly gushy “commentary” during the Commonwealth Games track cycling.

Abdu

Says who?
Stuey O had his first year “off” at the Tour this year, a spectator in the background. Maybe he had some time to reflect, or maybe OGE got into his head about laying low for a while ala Matt White.
Either way, and I’m not justifying his doping by any means, but the idea that he needs to be subject to your “being allowed” is nonsense.
The naming and shaming penalty hasn’t worked since medieval days of throwing rotten fruit at someone in the stocks. The Omerta survives partly because dopers are too scared to confess, and the ones who would otherwise do so are convinced by other dopers of the shame that would be poured on them.
It’s a very tricky thing, and I’m the last one to say that dopers should be protected. I think somehow, someway, the whole EPO generation (who are now DS’ on virtually every team) need to be removed from the sport or somehow forced to come clean.
Look at every pro team and you’ll find an ‘ex’ doper leading the team, driving the team car, directing young riders.
OGE, Astana, Movistar, Garmin, Tinkoff, etc etc. all have dope cheats from years gone by on their staff.

Michele

Abdu …. I am not playing ‘god’ here. Nor am I suggesting he needs my approval to be involved in coaching.

However if Cycling Australia have any balls at all, he should be made to sit down and have a chat with them before he’s allowed back in the sport.

After all, he’s been given the opportunity once before to ‘come clean’ and decided to lie his way through that particular process.

And it’s not like the general public need to even be aware of this process taking place [for all we know if may already have happened].

CA should just be able to come out and say they’ve spoken with O’Grady and will not stand in his way as [if he chooses to] comeback into cycling.

But in the meantime, cycling remains a laughing stock. Thanks to JTL, News Ltd are carrying the headline: “I didn’t dope, I just had 33 drinks!”.

jules

i strongly disagree. warnie is regularly touted as the ‘greatest ever leg spinner’. this is probably true, except for the fact HE’S A DOPER. i’m not talking about forgiveness here – i’m talking about denial.

what’s worse is that comparisons between warnie and murulitharan (sp.) regularly denounce the latter as a chucker! it’s a massive double standard.

velocite

You’re veering off into the wilderness there Jules. Does doping help with leg spin, do you think? Chucking, on the other hand…

jules

of course it does – he was most likely masking steroid use, which was used to help heal his shoulder, to help with his leg spin.

velocite

Apparently EPO can make a racehorse out of a donkey – if we’re talking about cycling. It seems that what we routinely refer to as ‘talent’ in cycling can be chemically enhanced. But doping can’t create leg spin talent. Doping wouldn’t have made Terry Jenner into Shane Warne.

jules

so doping is worse in cycling, as it has a greater impact on the result?

in that case, Lance should get his 7 Tours back, as they were ‘all doing it’.

i get what you’re saying and there’s some factual basis to it, but i think there’s some serious problems with the logic. i actually sympathise with Lance in that way, but others argue “there’s a line (doping) and Lance crossed it.” if you apply that consistently..

velocite

I’m not interested in the moral judgement, if that’s what you mean by ‘worse’. Doping had a huge impact on cycling, turning it partly into a doping competition on top of and in the guise of a real competition. Robbed us of results for 7 years. I believe you have expressed the view in the past that the problem in the Lance years was the regime that allowed doping, not the evil individual cyclist. Certainly I think that.

I think the current Tiernan-Locke story is a very positive one – reinforced by TSP’s remarks.

Do we need a private newsletter format so we can receive the real info?

Michele

I agree steroids wouldn’t have made Jenner a Warne. In fact, you could argue that Warne only doped to get back to his pre-injury condition.

A cyclist who took EPO on the rest-day at the Tour de France did so only because they were trying to recover from the fatigue they were experiencing because of the race.

What’s the difference between those two cases?

velocite

That’s surely not a serious question? The difference is that coping with the fatigue is an integral part of the challenge of a GT, of course.

Playing word association – both ‘doper’ and ‘John the Bookie’ wouldn’t be high on the list with Warne – they both should be.

With O’Grady, ‘doper’ in the first thing people think of when they hear his name. That might change in a few years.

jules

do you mean joe the cameraman?

Dave

Separate incident. Mark Waugh and Shane Warne plead guilty to giving their opinion of the weather and the expected pitch conditions to “John the Bookie” in the 90’s.

They were also commended for reported the Pakistani captain Salim Malik when he approached them and offered them money to lose the game for Australia a number of times in a tour of Pakistan, despite the difficulties that would certainly follow from not keeping it covered up.

I don’t think there’s ever been a remotely credible accusation against an Australian player of actual match-fixing or even spot-fixing.

Michele

Dave .. have you read Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy?

Again, in hindsight, fair to say both Waugh and Warne dodged a bullet with John the bookie.

Dave

Nope.

I agree that they dodged a bullet. It’s also probably fair to say that the combination of John the Bookie and Salim Malik was very instrumental in getting cricket on the road to taking corruption seriously. It was probably about as significant for cricket as the ’98 TdF was for cycling with Festina (and as we now know, O’Grady and Zabel) but thankfully nowhere near as traumatic for the sport.

Michele

Good point,

If you follow cricket, and don’t mind being left a little depressed about the sport, then I recommend reading it.

Dave

Meh. All sports have their ups and downs.

The long history of corruption in cycling would make cricket look clean enough to laugh it off.

Arfy

I don’t think cricket was under WADA’s jurisdiction at the time. Since then the ICC has implemented its own anti-doping code, in line with WADA. He did get a 12mth ban at the time, I wouldn’t have said that was a free ride. The difference is of course that doping in cricket rarely makes sense, and Warnie’s case was widely viewed as a one-off. Cycling’s suffering because of the endemic nature of previous doping, while cricket’s big issue has been players and teams swinging matches.

jules

i hear what you’re saying, but this is like saying a crime committed by a black person is worse due to the general problem with black crime. it may be true, but it isn’t justified.

Arfy

I’d say a better analogy is if you punch someone in the head in Victoria and they die, you get a mandatory 10 year jail term. If you deliberately drive into a cyclist and they die, you have your day in court. It’s the public perception that seems to matter more than the offence.
I’m not saying Warnie’s justified to be treated differently by any means, rather that the public perception of the nature of the offence means more to the sports fans, and those running the sport, than the offence itself.

Michele

If Warnie was using Frusemide to mask someone else he was on to strengthen his shoulder for the upcoming world cup, was his ban sufficient? Does it matter?

Found this interesting to read:

Quote:

Mr Sutherland said Warne faced the most serious charge of using a prohibited method. This charge carried a minimum two-year ban.

“Shane was charged with using a prohibited method under the ACB anti-doping policy and that charge was upheld,” Mr Sutherland said.

“The anti-doping committee found there were no exceptional circumstances which would justify the charge being dismissed.”

Probably the most surprising this about this is Warne got busted on 10 Feb 2003, and had his 12 month ban imposed on 22 Feb; just 12 days later.

In those 12 days Warne came back from South Africa, was interviewed, evidence collected and hearing / sentence completed.

Therefore 1 of 2 things has happened:

1. The investigating officers did a fantastically thorough job, or
2. The investigating officers did not do a fantastically thorough job

It makes Bertie’s case seem rather long-winded :)

Dave

Looks like he fessed up and they moved straight to the sentencing part of things. Mauro Santambrogio’s ban last year went the same way, it only took a couple of weeks from the B-sample result coming through to a suspension being handed down.

The big difference with cycling vs cricket would have to be the impact of PEDs. Even if he was using PEDs, the banning of Warne did not have any effect on the comprehensive success of the 2003 World Cup for Australia.

Abdu

I beg to differ that doping doesn’t make sense in cricket, and plenty of professional golfers taking Beta blockers would too…
Having trained with cricketers I can tell you they are not a very fit or professional bunch, I have punched out better sessions alongside A grade amateur footballers than the guys with test caps I regularly train alongside.
The difference in cricket is often mental, and that level of fitness that allows them to bowl an extra over in a day when you’ve roller over 30, or tweak the ball just that little bit more in a 10 over spell. The benefit to Warne by doping was clear, he was able to return quickly from an injury that would hurt like hell otherwise, and keep rolling the arm over when others were in the sheds. Sorry, he was using a diuretic.
Similar to the sprinters who got over the mountains easily in the Tour. Look back at any green jersey winner in the Tour from the mid ’80’s through to just before Sagan. Their quality got them the sprint on the flat, but the EPO got them to Paris.

Gordon

At least he was suspended. The way things are going with Paul Little at Essendon and his belief, before a ruling from a federal court judge, that the government should make it go away.
So rather than excuse what about best pleading by a person in power to have his teams extremely dodgy practices exempted by the government of the day.
To me it sounds like old Eastern block practices…..long bow I know but thought I would put it out there.

Michele

Essendon as doing what in commonly called “The Armstrong Defense”.

The bombers are fighting the man [AFL / ASADA / Federal Gov’t] and not the charge.

Probably learnt the skill through their association with LA and Livestrong.com.

Sean

I can’t believe i’m not involved in this discussion. Most of what the bombers did was legal, they were supplements.

Michele

Most .. was legal? Or all of it was legal?

Because aside from the Blood bags, the testosterone, the EPO, the hGH, Cortisone, Saline and Plasma infusions, that man from Texas did everything above board :)

Hex Dealer

You’re trolling right?
Speaking of best excuses, surely Mark McVeigh’s comments that the Bombers were only injecting vitamins is one of the funniest.
The fact that he’s happily well paid in a commentary job shows the attitudes to doping and the mates club in AFL.
Just don’t ask about the bulked up hulks of the ’80’s and ’90’ like Conlan and Kink, or the West Coast Eagles, or the fact that James Hird was receiving “nutritional advice” and mysteriously bulked up as a player at the end of his career, that same “nutritional advice” being provided by the man charged with drug dealing and heavily involved in the Bombers doping scandal (Dr. Ageless). Very funny to read that Hird was still being injected 15 years later while a coach, and suffering adverse reactions to Hexarelin that included having to avoid sunlight.
Only cycling has a drug problem though.

Dave

Those Greek athletes who led police on a high speed chase through Athens during the 2004 Olympics would easily surpass most cyclists’ excuses.

That one with the cortisone arse cream was pretty good – I’d mention his name if it weren’t for the fact he “has no place in cycling.”

David Millar would be up there for the most pathetic.

Michele

Regarding he who we can’t mention, I’ve already got a book in the works for him.

You know those books with a full page picture of a cute cat sleeping in the sun, or the irresistible dog doing irresistible things, or the polar bear chilling on the snow? And opposite the image is some really cute/lovely [read extremely corny] saying / proverb?

Well, my book with have glorious pictures of he who we don’t speak of, with a matching denial on the opposite page.

Here’s a few:

“I have been on my deathbed, and I’m not stupid. I can emphatically say I am not on drugs.”

“The simple truth is that we outwork everyone. But when you perform at a higher level in a race, you get questions about doping.”

“I have never doped. I can say it again, but I’ve said it for seven years.”

“Why would I enter into a sport and then dope myself up and risk my life again? That’s crazy. I would never do that. No way.”

“As long as I live, I will deny it. There was absolutely no way I forced people, encouraged people, told people, helped people, facilitated. Absolutely not. One hundred percent.”

“If you’re trying to hide something, you wouldn’t keep getting away with it for 10 years. Nobody is that clever.”

Jan 2013: “All the fault and all the blame here falls on me. I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times. I made my decisions. They are my mistakes, and I am sitting here today to acknowledge that and to say I’m sorry for that.”

Dave

I’d say that such a presentation about (the former TdF stage winner from 1993 who shall now be known as Lord Voldemort) would be best done by simply making him the subject of a Liberal attack ad…

Michael Rogers – surely deserves a position in the top five for actually managing to pull it off.

Contador not so much.

Michele

I didn’t even think of Bertie!!

Yeah, and Mick needs to get a mention.

Sean

Yeah that was a get out of jail free card.

Dan

In July 2006, Allan Davis along with Isidro Nozal, Sergio Paulinho, Joseba Beloki and Alberto Contador from the Liberty Seguros team were cleared by Spanish authorities of any involvement in the ongoing Puerto investigation.
Does that count for best excuse…?

Arfy

“The Green Wave” in Copenhagen is a really good idea, and looks to be well implemented. Much smarter than Warnie!

Michele

Hey, stop trying to change the subject. We’re talking Warnie here.

Michele

Congratulations to Kiel Reijnen for his win at the Pro Challenge.

The United HealthCare outfit design is one of the few in the peloton that doesn’t need to be fully zipped up to see the sponsor names. Not sure if that is by design or by chance.

However that doesn’t matter if the rider chooses to put his hand over his heart in symbolism as he crosses the line.

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